The Lovie-Camping Dilemma

There’s a really long story here about the time we took my then six-year-old’s favorite stuffed animal (Lambie) with us to visit relatives. Yes, we made it home after the five-hour drive, pulled into the driveway, and heard, “Mommy, where’s Lambie?”

Lambie was at my parents’ house, and no, they didn’t see the need to drive two and a half hours to meet me for an exchange. They also didn’t see the need to overnight Lambie to our house, or to ship him with insurance. I was ready to make the full drive back to their place just to retrieve him safely. (Luckily, a kindly aunt who lived all alone understood our daughter’s plight and took Lambie to the post office immediately and had him overnight shipped… then wouldn’t even let me reimburse her!)

We learned our lesson: Lambie is too valuable to take on future trips, especially ones where he could get left in the mud, eaten by a curious animal, washed away in a sudden rain storm, or any other possible scenario. In short, Lambie (and any other special toys) will not be included in camping trips or other adventures. It’s for his own safety.

So what happened recently when we went on a week-long camping trip? This. You may weep now.

Yes, that’s my child sleeping next to a picture of Lambie on my phone. It’s heartbreaking. So what are we supposed to do when there’s a treasured lovie that just can’t come with us for safety reasons?

Make a fake!

Using that exact picture, I printed an iron on transfer, ironed it onto an old soft t-shirt, sewed it around the edges and stuffed it full of fiberfill. The faux Lambie lives in our camping gear and he’s ready for the road! It’s a cheap imitation, of course, but our kiddo’s old enough to know that bad things can happen to good lambs in the woods. Lambie stays home where he’s nice and safe, and the fake Lambie is ready for the woods!